If you thought you couldn’t afford truly great vintage champagne, this is your wine. I have waited in eager anticipation for seven months for Lanson 2002 to land in Australia, and oh the rejoicing when it hit my local Dan Murphy’s last week! The most profound Lanson since 1996 carries a formidable tension between energetic […]

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There is an understated effortlessness about this wine that will, time permitting, define it among the greatest Cape Mentelles of all. Every molecule of complexity and detail have been intricately assembled, with each nuance of young Margaret River cabernet character methodically ticked off, yet it upholds an astonishing approachability and an alcohol reading of just […]

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2009 was the pinnacle of a run of five great vintages in the west, and with an almost equal share of Great Southern in the blend, this wine shows that the blessings flowed beyond Margaret River. It’s everything that you’d expect of the finest vintages of Abercrombie, yet, simultaneously, more vibrant lift, deeper black fruits, […]

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I cannot think of an Australian wine more daring than this. The wine that Bill Downie describes as “the pinot noir I’ve never made” is a blend of shiraz, a dash of pinot noir and a touch of sauvignon blanc. 100% whole bunch with no punch downs and no pump overs should not work, least […]

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Sacred Hill alone is sufficient reason to never gamble on another cleanskin again. When I broadcast word that it was slashed to $3.75 (half price!) at 1st Choice and Dan’s this week I almost incited a stampede. Households all over the country are revelling in a house wine with surprising integrity of balance and varietal […]

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Tahbilk marsanne is an institution. From estate vines now averaging thirty years of age, it’s charming straight out of the fermenter, it ages magically and it’s impressed me over four decades. 2011 is a particularly outstanding vintage, fresher and zestier than ever and carrying a wonderfully persistent texture. All the classic lemon and lime flavours […]

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Introducing Marlborough pinot noir made with a Burgundian mindset, built to age, with lower alcohol, more perfume, more acid and more tannin. This is achieved by a low cropping estate vineyard at the mouth of the Waihopai Valley. The wine meets the brief, with perfumed rose petal aromatics and an elegant red cherry palate of […]

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Welcome to the future of Heathcote. This wine encapsulates this region’s flattering ability to produce shiraz of brooding depth of black cherry and plum fruit, yet, crucially, in a refreshing style of vibrant acidity, textural tannins and no more than medium-bodied aspirations. Greenstone has conjured its finest vintage yet, coaxing vines of just six years […]

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One of Marlborough’s most refined estates just got finer. Magic happened when the idyllic 2010 season met these mature, low-cropped estate vineyards. A winemaking philosophy that prizes texture above flavour, and a lower proportion of new oak than ever, have produced one of the region’s finest chardonnays. It’s lively, honed and poised, with a lemon […]

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Four separate batches treated differently in the winery may seem overkill for a total production of just 118 dozen, but the result is a wine which sings with the hand-made purity of a master craftsman. The texture is multi-dimensional, at once confident and at the same time soft, with a seamless purity of gravelly tannins. […]

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